Entwined Realms Volume One(162)

For him. This was for him. He lowered his head and poured everything he felt into the kiss he wrapped her in, and overhead the phoenix sang in approval.





Chapter Twenty





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Esh opened his eyes to see red hair and gold, gleaming eyes, a spark off the hilt of a sword. “Was it real?”

Fallon didn’t ask for details. She was quiet for a moment, and if she pretended she didn’t know what he was talking about, he might take a swing at her, Guild or not. “The knowledge is real,” were her ultimate words. “So take it and move on.”

Move on. Yes, that he wanted to do, and he got to his feet, walked to where Nalah was sitting up, protesting her treatment by Rorth and Aislynn. “Honestly, I’m fine. I’m good. My head feels clear for the first time in forever – better than it used to.” His shadow touched her and she looked up, and a luminous, hesitant smile stole over her face.

Screw hesitation. He bent and lifted her, picking up the kiss as it had been by the waterfall, and her hands tangled in his hair and pulled tight as she kissed him back. It felt like their first kiss all over again, and in a way it was. They were as free of the past as they could be, and it was time to celebrate.

Whistling. It was whistling that broke them apart, and Fallon gave a close-lipped smile. “If you let us wrap this up, you can do that as much as you want and I won’t bother you again.”

“Fallon,” was Nalah’s small protestation, but she patted Esh in an unspoken plea to be put down, which he complied with. She looked among the three of them. “My mother’s ring.”

“I’m sorry, but it has been taken,” said Aislynn, her expression pure empathy for Nalah.

“That…woman.” Nalah shuddered and huddled closer, and Esh held her to combat the chill. She looked to Fallon. “Who was she?”

“A Rainha Flor-Cadaver – the Corpse Bloom Queen. Pray you don’t meet her again.”

Esh never prayed – never a reason to – but if he ever started, that would be his first.

Fallon turned the conversation away from the ring and their recent enemy. “The Phoenix Clan will want to know about you. Do you want to meet your people?”

“If I have a people, why the hell was I running the streets?” Old hurt rode him even after the earlier cleansing, and bitterness still seeped through his tone.

“You don’t need me to tell you the Great Collision destroyed a lot of lives, so don’t expect me to coo over you because yours was one of them.”

Before he could open his mouth to respond, Aislynn put her hand on Fallon’s shoulder and said, “Perhaps at this point I should speak?” Fallon motioned her forward, and Aislynn took focal point of the group. “I do not know what happened to your family or why you were alone. What I can assure you of is the Phoenix Clan is small, and it values all of its blood. If the Clan knew of you, they would never have let you live out your life on the streets. And while in one way that would have been a great joy, it would have meant you would never have found Nalah or your calling in the fights.”

“You think the fights are a calling?”

Esh’s question was full of attitude, but Aislynn’s response was not. “Some of us have the skill to fight, but we are not fighters. While I accept my place in battle, it is hard for me to exist there.” The elf’s blue eyes went flat in a way Esh knew from older fighters, those who were at the end of their time in the cage and ready to escape it – in any way necessary. His gaze flicked to Fallon, but she was speaking in low tones to Rorth and not watching the elf. “You, however, thrive there, and you enter and leave the same way, as a good man who upholds his honor. So yes, the fights are your calling. Whether they are in front of a crowd, or should our battle come to your door, beside us in combat.”

They were Guild. Their existence was fighting. Kind of surprising, Nalah ending up with them instead of him. And if Nalah stayed with them? Then fucking positive the battle would land at his door, because she wasn’t going without him.

“One day,” Esh answered. “Soon, I’ll meet with the Clan. Got questions I want answered anyway. Right now I want space.”

Fallon had finished her discussion with Rorth and again took point. “Sounds reasonable. I’ll let them know of your existence so they’ll be ready when you contact them.” She softened a fraction then, her eyes flicking to Nalah, who was still in the circle of his arms. “You did well. Not many could take on the Corpse Bloom Queen for even a moment. What are your plans now?”

Nalah glanced at him, love and desire and no ghosts in that gaze. He thought he knew freedom before, but this, loving and being loved, this was free. This was true happiness. “I am going to be with him and we’re figuring out our life together, and I don’t know how long it’s going to take or where it’s going to lead us.” His heart stuttered in his chest over this final proof she’d forgiven him, and herself as well.